Hydraulic scale



Mafch 1, 1938. w. P. BRSHER HYDRAULIC S CALE 2 Sheets-Sheet l FiledAMarch 25, 1936 H|| mlllllllll lull!! llllll Mdm P m .m W W wwwMarh1,193s. wp. BRASHER 12,109,460

, HYDRAULIC SCALE `Filed March 23, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 26 2a l yWT//fam/Prasher;

'40 Figure3isavertical Patented Mar. 1, 1938 PATENT OFFICE arcaico vmmaAUmc SCALE William P. Brasher, Augusta, Ga., assigner of four-ninthsto Geddings .lowitt and one-ninth to Rodney S. Cohen, both of Augusta,Ga.-

Application March 23, 1936, Serial No. 70,511

3Claims.

This invention relates to hydraulic scales by which the weight of a loadon a vehicle or truck may be indicated during the loading of the truckcr at any other desired time.

The primary object of the present invention is to generally improvescales or devices of the above kind whereby the same maymeet with therequirements for a successful commercial use.

More particularly, the present invention provides a construction whereinthe body ci the,

vehicle normally rests directly upon its supporting frame and is bodilymovable upwardly therefrom in a rectilinear path so as tobe wholly orentirely supported in the raised position by hydraulic means providedfor raising said body upwardly from said supporting frame, whereby theweight of a load on such body may be directly or accurately indicated.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a constructioncharacterized as above stated, wherein means is provided for forcing andsecurely fastening the body down upon its supporting framewhen the loadis being transportedV and thescales are not in use.

-Still another object 'of the present invention is to provide means forelfectively guiding the body in its vertical movement when being raisedor lowered.

Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparentfrom the following description, when considered in connection with theaccompanying drawinsain which:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary view. partly in side elevation and partlybroken away and in section,

- of a motor truck equipped with hydraulic scales in accordance with thepresent invention.

. Figure A2 is a fragmentary view of the construction shown lin Figure1, partly in top plan and partly broken away.

1w sectiononline S-Sofldg'urel." -A v Iilgureiisanenlargedf section online 4 4 of Figure 2.

Figure 5 is a ditic view showing the 45 hydraulic system embodied in thepresent invention.

Figure Bison enlarged detail view showing jnmrevaisaviewnmimto'nmueimus--mungtne'present invention applied to i u lll( m; lilla* j Figure 9 is atransverse vertical section on line 9--9 of Figure 8.

:Referring in detail to the drawings, 5 indicates the body of a motortruck or other vehicle, and 8 the horizontal supporting frame therefor.The body 5 normally rests directly upon the supporting frame 9, but iscapable of being raised bodily therefrom in a rectilinear path.Hydraulic means is provided for so raising the body 5, including anysuitable number and arrangement of hydraulic jacks 1 mounted on theframe 6 and having plungers 8 enga the under side of the body 5. Thishydraulic means further includes a pressure producing device or pump 9having its discharge port-or outlet connected with the cylinders of thejacks 'l by means of a pipe l0, and a reservoir il for oil or any otherincompressible liquid having an outlet connected withthe intake of thepressure producing device or pump 9 by means of a pipe I2. As indicatedat I3, the device or pump 9 has a check valve vice or pump 9 whilepreventing it from passing 2 from said device or pump 9 through the pipel2 into said reservoir Il. A control valve l5 is provided to selectivelycut ci! communication between the device or pump 9 and the jacks 1 andsimultaneously place said jacks in communication with the reservoir Ilfor bleeding the oil or other pressure medium from said jacks to thereservoir Il so as to permit the body 5 to lower onto its supportingframe 6, or to place said device or pump. 9 in communication with thejacks 1 and simultaneously cutoff communication between said jacks 1 andreservoir I l so. that the oil or other pressure medium may be forcedunder pressure to said jacks for raising the body 5 of! the frame 9. Thevalve l! may be of any suitable kind but is shown by way of example asof the turn plug type having a rotatable valve member positionable asshown in Figure 6 to provide communication between the pump 9 and thevjacks 1, and positionable as shown in Figure 7 to cut on communicationbetween the pump 9 and the jacks .'l and provide communicationbetween'said Jacks 1 and the reservoir il. For this purpose, the valveIl is interposed in the pipe IO-as'shown in Figure 1, andhas a thirdport connected with the inlet of tank or reservoir il by a pipe It..Intermediate the jacks I and valve Il.' the Pipe I has a--branch I1connected with a suitable prelure gage' llcalibnted so that itspointuwillindlcate|erowhenthebodylis empty and raised to impose itsweight alone upon the jacks 1 and the pressure medium behind theplungers 8 of said jacks and in the'pipes I0 and I1.

As the body 5 is free of permanent connection with the frame 6othertl'ian possibly through jacks 1, and is solely supported in raisedposition by said jacks, means is provided for guiding the body 5 in itsvertical rectilinear movement when being raised or lowered so as tomaintain said body in proper relation to the supporting frame 6. Forthis purpose, the body 5 may be provided at the bottom with suitablyarranged downwardly projecting guide pins I9 slidably projecting throughguide openings provided in the sides of the frame 6.

In order to prevent the body 5 from bouncing and otherwise vibratingrelative to the frame B when lowered onto the latter, means is providedfor forcing and securely fastening said body 5 downonto the frame 6.This means, while essentially releasable, may be greatly varied as tokind and specific structure. As shown, it may consist of cam hooks 2lsecured on the opposite end portions of transverse rock shafts 22journaled in the frame 6 near the front and rear ends of body 5 andarranged to engage in keeper openings provided at 23 in transverse bars24 rigidly secured on the bottom of body 5, a hand lever 25 beingprovided for actuating the forward one of the rock shafts 22, and saidrock shafts 22 being operatively interconnected through the medium ofarms 28 rigid with and depending from said rock shafts 22 and connectedby a rod or link 21. Preferably, the reservoir II is located in asuitable out-of-the-way place, such as under the drivers seat asindicated by dotted lines in Figure 1, the gage I8 and valve I5 beingdisposed in front of the drivers seat for convenient access.

The essential distinction between the form of the invention shown inFigure 1 and that shown in Figure 8 is that in the former instance, thetruck is of the non-dumping type, while in the latter instance, it is ofthe dumping type. In the former case, the supporting frame 6 isconstituted by the chassis frame of the vehicle, while in the lattercase or in Figure 8, said frame 6 consists of a supplemental frametiltably mounted upon the chassis frame 6A by means of rockers 28, inaccordance with the well known type of dumping truck. However, in theembodiment of Figure 8, the' rockers 28 are attached to the supplementalframe 6 instead of to the body 5 so that the latter is permitted to beraised from the frame 6 in the use of the scales. The usual lever forcontrolling the operation of the dumping body 5 is indicated at 29, andit will be apparent that this lever is engageable with the frame 6 andmust be released when the body 5 is to be tilted for dumping thecontents of said body. In this embodiment, the pipe I8 is provided witha flexible conduit section 380i `a sufmounted beside the drivers seatand operatively connected to the forward one of the rock shafts 22 l bymeans of the arm 26 of the latter, an arm 3| on the lever 25, and a link32v connecting said arms 26 and 3|.. Otherwise, the construction andoperation of both forms of the invention are similar, and `similar partsare indicated by correspending reference characters in both forms of theinvention.

In operation, the body 5 is released so that it may be raised upwardlyfrom the frame 8, whereupon the latter is accomplished by operation ofthe device or pump 9 with the valve I5 positioned as shown in Figure 6.As the body 5 is loaded, it is depressed for forcing the pressure mediumtoward the gage I8 and thereby causing the weight of the load to beregistered on said gage. When the body 5 has been fully loaded and theweight of the load registered, the body 5 is lowered onto the frame 6 byreleasing the pressure medium from behind the plungers 8 of the jacks 'Iand bleeding such pressure medium back into the tank or reservoir II bypositioning the valve I5 as shown in Figure 7. The body is then forcedand securely fastened down upon the frame 6, whereupon the load may besafely transported without danger of the body 5 bouncing and vibratingrelative to the frame' 6. .As the body 5 and its load is entirelysupported solely upon the jacks -l when raised and during the weighingoperation, an accurate indication of the weight of the load is insured.Of course, the body 5 may be loaded and then elevated by the hydraulicjacking means to determine the weight of the load.

What I claim as new is:

1. In a load indicator, the combination of a supporting frame, a vehiclebody normally resting directly on but being capable of being bodilyraised upwardly from said supporting frame in a rectilinear path,pressure influenced means disposed in operative relation between saidframe and body for so raising the latter, a reservoir for a pressuremedium, a pressure producing device for forcing the pressure medium fromsaid reservoir to said pressure influenced means and maintaining theproduced pressure in the latter, a controlling device for selectivelyplacing said pressure producing device in communication with saidpressure influenced means for raising the body or for placing saidreservoir in communication with said pressure influenced means forreleasing the pressure in the latter, a pressure gage in communicationwith said pressure influenced means, said body being free of connectionwith said frame except through said pressure influenced means so as tobe solely and entirely supported by the latter when raised, and cammeans to force and releasably secure the -body down upon said frame whenlowered upon the latter by release of the pressure in said pressureinfluenced means.

2. In a load indicator, the combination with a chassis and vehicle body,of a supplemental frame tiltably mounted on said chassis, said bodynormally resting upon said supplemental frame but being bodily movableupwardly therefrom, pressure influenced means disposed in operativerelation between said supplemental frame and said body for so raisingth'e latter, a drivers cab,

cam means operable from the drivers cab for forcing and releasablysecuring the body down on the supplemental frame when lowered,means .forproducing and maintaining a pressure in said pressure influenced means,means for releasing the pressure from said pressure influenced means.and a pressure gage in communication with said pressure influencedmeans, said body beingl free of connection with said supplemental frameexcept througlihsaid pressure influenced meansuso as to be entirely andsolely supported-bythe latter when raised.

cure the body down upon said supporting frame, plungers carried by saidsupporting frame and engaging the body, means for raising the plungersto lift the body off of the supporting frame, and means for indicatingthe downward pressure 5 on the raised plungers.

WILLIAM P. BRASHER.

